DeplorableDog

That is the most important thing to learn to make quitting possible in my opinion. As an alcoholic quitting can seem so overwhelming. But you don't have to stop being an alcoholic, as a matter of fact you can't. And you don't need to think about eliminating drinking except for the first drink. The only drink you have to eliminate yourself from drinking is the first one. Quitting got easier when I quit thinking of all the other drinks and just focused on never drinking the first one.

Day 326 ODAAT

Pekelover2

Alpine, that must have been a stressful dinner.
DD, as always great advice. Don’t take the first drink and everything else falls into place.
Least I hope that you slept well.
Slept decently last night. Looking forward to a break in the rain today later this afternoon. Our volunteering event was cancelled for today.
We didn’t book the flights for our vacation yet. Hopefully we can due that on Tuesday when my husband is next off.

saoutchik

Well done on your respective milestones RunnerF/RAL! As has been said time and time again, once you have stayed of the booze long enough then not drinking becomes less of a big deal and just something you used to do like algebra.

It rained again last night but it is sunny out

RAL

Thanks sao. Have a great day 😀

Alysheba

Alpine, glad you were able to get through dinner and kind of you to see your niece and nephews. Sorry, your sister is so awful. I have one of those two. We don't speak. I hope you are doing quite well. Thinking of you my friend.
Peke, thank you for the PM yesterday. Yes, CA is so expensive and I'm starting to grieve having to leave it one of these days. I just have to figure out where I can afford to live. Funny, I used to have a serious boyfriend from Scarsdale too, did not end well. Thanks for thinking of me. Great to hear from you. Where are you going for vacation?
I kind of slept fitfully too. I hope my mom's Sunday paper comes. Our paper person has been a chronic problem.
Grateful to be sober this weekend.
Grateful for you all. Leshar, hope you are feeling better.
Have a wonderful day!

Hodd

@RAL, you certainly picked the right time to escape this UK weather! I went on a short (and very fast) run just now. The reason for my speed was the constant lightning flashes and crashes right over my head whilst I was running past open fields 🤣

I just read there’s a one in 33 million chance of being killed by lightning in the UK!

RAL

Oh hodd sorry you've got bad weather for the bh weekend. 26 degrees here 😱☀️ though I had to put the parasol up at one point today 😂

Hodd

I just read a tabloid newspaper report about the “deadly” sandstorms that sometimes hit Tenerife! It’s actually just Saharan sand blown high over the islands. I didn’t really notice until a windsurf instructor mentioned it. It reminded me of the orange hazy sunsets you see in California. It’s called “calima” and only happen 24 days a year. Lucky me 🙂

Alpine

Mr. A did not have to work today and the sun was out so we took our canoes out. We tried last year but I was unable due to medical issues. It was so nice to be out and my leg let me do it for about 3 hours. Woot woot.

RAL

Oh I remember that happened once when we were here hodd too. Same with you though I didn't really notice it. Just a bit hazy a normal cloudy morning in adeje lol. 😂 it's meant to be pretty rough for people with chest issues as can affect the breathing even if you cant see it. I'd read about it and thought it would be like saharan sandstorm blizzards but no 😱😂

Pekelover2

Hi Aly!
We’re staying at a place called Fire Island (for free). My MIL has a cousin that has a cottage there. All that we have to pay for is the air fare/food/cleaning crew. I know that my husband needs a relaxing vacation and this will definitely be it. It’s a sleepy little place accessible by ferry only.
Although I keep dreaming visiting places outside of the US (that require a passport) we will have to save those destinations for retirement. ❤️

Hodd

^ it’s not a big issue as you say, RAL. My other half gets hay fever and seemed a bit sneezy that day. Africa’s 200 miles away so that sand gets about.

PhoenixJ

A quiet Monday planned..just domestics.
I used to leave my home (sons/wife moved out, me drinking) at 0830 to walk the 30minutes, (over hills, a field and metres away from a primary school class room-where the students watched me every morning) with my granny trolley. Timed to get to the booze shop as it opened, for a big box of very cheap wine. The have a first desperate guzzle of wine in a public toilet, to calm the shaky hands, then drink all of the cask as fast as I could, then pass out. Until the next day. Life stuff is hard sometimes, like being around humans, but that's ok. Grateful to be sober and alive.

Robbie64

^
it sounds like every day was a nightmare PJ.

My walk to the booze shop wasn't quite as long - 2 minutes maximum time to walk to the shop as it was just around the corner - but like your shop, it was next to a school though this was a secondary school for 11-16 year olds. The shop would open at 8am and if I got there 5 minutes after opening time it was full of teenagers queuing up to buy sweets. I probably stunk of alcohol, would have been shaking and would have looked a mess. There were other alcoholics in the shop buying booze too and sometimes we would be standing outside at 8am waiting for the shop to open. Eventually the shop owner started to open the shop at 7.30am, to get us drinkers out of the way before he had a shopful of school children to serve. It's embarrassing to think about it now. The shop closed around 2019 so this was an almost daily ritual when I was binge drinking for the first 15 years of me living where I now live. I did have to walk further after the shop had closed to get my booze though eventually I started to get booze delivered to the door at all hours of the day or even night (unbelievably it can now be ordered in and delivered to the door 24 hours a day). That was costly as well as embarrassing.

Hodd

^ Makes me shudder, Robbie.

I didn’t even know alcohol delivery was a thing before. Ironically I first heard about it on SR and thankfully long after I’d quit. I’d have been a regular customer! It’s terrible that such a service exists when it’s obviously aimed at those with a drink problem. It emphasises how well you’ve done to quit 👍

Steely

Yeah, the “early opener”. So embarressing then, and now. Mostly blokes lined up outside.

Thank goodness to be sober.

DeplorableDog

One thing I have concluded is our government does not want to do anything to curb drinking. Our politicians and government receive to much money to want to stop it. Your major breweries contribute huge amounts to political campaign contributions. Plus there is the revenue generated by dui fines. Government can increase the fines on that and who will protest? People who don't drink will never protest the fines, penalties for drunk drivers. And anyone with a drinking problem will never protest it because they don't want to admit they are against it because they might have to pay it. Personally, I would rather see one alcoholic or not having alcohol delivered to their home then drinking at a bar and driving home. In my worst drinking days I drank at home and not somewhere I had to drive home from.

least

I remember feeling proud that I didn't drink and drive... but then remembered that I did drive after I had been drinking... Not so proud of myself after all... So glad those days are long behind me, never to happen again.

Finishing up my laundry from yesterday. Slept very late today after being awake for hours last night. Billie and I have walked a bit over a mile today.

Steely

Hope you’re doing ok least. . You’ve been through a lot and have carried on regardless. Legend. Hi, to Billie. 🐶. “Find the good and praise it.”

Canoeing sounds great Alpine. 🛶

Who says there’s no such thing as a free lunch, Peke? I hope you and your husband have a really great time. Can’t beat a sleepy little place accessible only by ferry. ⛴️

The girl with the sash looks really disturbed Phoenix. 🤴 lol

Best to all. Bat on, it’s worth it!

Pekelover2

An intense story for sure, Robbie. Funny how the shop owner opened his establishment earlier to accommodate the ppl buying booze. You weren’t alone: there was a demand. Glad those days are behind you.
PJ thanks for sharing that story. Looking into the rear view mirror hard for all of us.

We had a break in the rain. A few of us drove into town and met up to ride. It felt great to get out there. Just under twenty-two miles. I got a good weight workout in before that. Hoping that I can sleep better this evening.